SARASOTA COUNTY — A proposed Sarasota County Charter amendment on the ballot aimed at saving the county money by eliminating special elections fell by just 322 votes Tuesday.

Of the 166,276 votes cast for the amendment in the county’s 99 precincts,
50.1 percent of the voters voted against the amendment while 49.9 percent voted in favor. That translates into 83,366 “no” votes, compared to 83,044 “yes” votes. Nearly 41,000 voters left the amendment — the final item on the two-page ballot — blank. Joyce Soltis of the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office verified the numbers Wednesday and said her office will know by Friday if there has to be a recount of the ballots due to the close nature of the vote.